(NewsWorthy.news) – A public university in North Carolina has made the unusual decision to divert the entirety of its funds for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs into its public safety department.
The Board of Trustees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recently approved a proposal to transfer $2.3 million previously set aside to fund DEI programs to instead be used for police and public safety resources. The decision was made during a special meeting about the school’s budget and will impact its DEI office, threatening to disband it all together.
While other universities have taken similar steps—such as the University of Florida, which cut diversity funding in accordance with state law—UNC-Chapel Hill has “set the tone” for colleges in the Tar Heel State, according to Dave Boliek, the school’s budget chair.
He explained that the North Carolina legislature has not yet implemented a statewide ban on public funds being used for DEI programs, but that UNC-Chapel Hill is “taking a leadership role” in the controversy.
Marty Kotis, vice-chair of the committee, emphasized the need to “consider” every one of the 30,000 students at the school instead of “just the 100 or so” who have taken DEI advocacy so far as to get arrested for radical protests against the war in the Middle East.
The funds would be allocated to public safety and police beginning in the fiscal year of 2024 through 2025, starting on July 1, 2024. Boliek indicated it remains uncertain how many job positions would be impacted by the change. Whether the university’s entire Office of Diversity and Inclusion would be shut down is a decision left to the school’s flexible management team, currently led by interim Chancellor Lee Roberts.
Kevin Best, a spokesperson for the school, told the media that the proposed budget—including the $2.3 million suggested re-allocation—now heads to the UNC Board of Governors for review.
The proposal comes weeks after the North Carolina Committee on University Governance voted to upend DEI policies across 17 different schools in the state, threatening to remove a number of DEI jobs as defined in a 2019 regulation.
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